Xiaomi launches the Black Shark 2 Pro, Snapdragon 855+ in tow

Gaming phones are the rage these days. Starting with the first-gen Razer phone, the gaming phone segment has grown, with companies like Xiaomi, Asus, and Nubia all offering competing products. Asus just launched its ROG Phone 2 last week and Xiaomi, not one to go down without a scrap, has replied with the Black Shark 2 Pro.

The Black Shark 2 was only just released in March, so this is something a kick in the shins of those who bought it. The Black Shark 2 Pro isn't really a big upgrade, truth be told, but it does bring a few improvements. Most notable is the Snapdragon 855+, a slightly more powerful refresh of the Snapdragon 855 on the Black Shark 2. The Snapdragon 855+ has a 15% GPU performance advantage over the Snapdragon 855. 

The Black Shark 2 Pro features a 6.39-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a touch latency of 34.7ms and a 60 Hz refresh rate. Catch up, Xiaomi. The ROG Phone 2 has a similar FHD+ AMOLED display but with a 120 Hz refresh rate that makes a world of difference. The ROG Phone 2's panel has a worse touch latency of 49ms, though.

Under the hood of the Black Shark 2 Pro is the aforementioned Snapdragon 855+, 12 GB of RAM, and up to 256 GB of UFS 3.0 storage. The phone gets its juice from a 4000 mAh battery; again, handily worse than the 6000 mAh unit on the ROG Phone 2. There's 27 W fast-charging. Just like with the Black Shark 2, the main shooter is a 48 MP sensor. The telephoto snapper has been upgraded from 12 MP to 13 MP, though, while the selfie camera is still the same 20 MP one.

The 128 GB model has a price tag that translates into about US$435, while the 256 GB SKU will set buyers back about US$580.